Motivation

Music affects us all.

"I've never seen him like this before..." Osiris said with a laugh as he leaned against one of the workbenches. Xaveria looked up from the technical drawing in front of her, "Really? Most mechanics in today's day and age do it?" Osiris however just stared at his father as he watched him work. "Music? I never considered it to be any use for working. Would it not just distract you?"
Sighing, Xaveria reached into her back pocket and pulled out two plugs. Leaning over the bench she grabbed Osiris' shirt and pulled him toward her. "What are you doing?" Osiris said as he nearly lost his balance. Putting the earphones into his ears, Xaveria let him go as she smiled and hit a button engraved into the screen on the workbench.
Before he could find his footing, Osiris' ears thundered with a multitude of beats and sounds. Xaveria laughed and leaned over to see his expression, but she was surprised to see that his eyes were closed and that his head was bobbing slightly. "So he likes rock music..." She mumbled to herself before leaning back against the bench, her pencil darting across the sheet to correct minor measurements for the car's frame. Mentel grinned as he saw his son listening to the music. "What do you have him on?" he called over to Xaveria.

She reached over and pulled the name up on the screen, "Looks like its your old playlist, guess you two are a little similar. Too much rock for my liking though." Mentel smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "I have to admit, we didnt have this system in my day. The music is looped around the building and everyone can hear it?" Xaveria turned around and looked up to the relay device on the roof. "I think it was Andrea that fitted the workshop with it. It has a load of customisable channels. Depending on what I'm doing, I have a few playlists. Oh and you can tell him that he can keep those ear phones, I have a few spare sets in my room." Xaveria said with a smile as she pulled the pages from the screen and backed out through the door. "So, what do you think of the music?" Mentel called to his son, but Osiris was oblivious to everything that was going on around him. The fast beats of the music seemed to bounce in time with the calculations going on in his head. Suddenly, each idea started to spark off against other ideas until they were combining themselves into concepts that he had never thought of before. Opening his eyes, Osiris pushed himself off the bench and started walking towards the Turbo Engine that was off towards the side of the wall. Staring at the polished metal, Osiris started to circle the construct before a smile broke out across his face.

Mentel put down his tools and signalled for Xavier to watch what was happening. The older man tilted his head as he watched the young man work. "What do you think he's doing?"

Mentel grinned, "I think that he's going to put my machine to shame in a few moments." Osiris was working furiously at one of the plasma benches. His hands were pushing buttons and cancelling them instantaneously before hitting other options. Xavier chuckled, "You have to give him credit, he's learning how to use the touch screens through trial and error? I suppose with his brain, its faster than being instructed." Mentel however didnt answer, he was watching the basic 3D image that was forming a few inches above the plasma board itself. "I think this is going to turn out to be very interesting." Mentel said after a few moments before he returned to his own work. Xavier continued to watch for a few moments before he too returned to his work. Both men threw curious glances behind them over the next while, each wondering how Osiris would progress with whatever he was doing.

"Veria! Veria!" Andrea called as she burst into the room. Xaveria looked up for a moment and lowered her glasses, "What's wrong?"
Andrea was grinning and trying to catch her breath, "Do you have any more of that music on file?" Xaveria was confused, "I dont understand, what are you talking about?" Andrea sighed and smiled. "Osiris, the music that you gave him. Do you have any more of it? The playlist ran out and we're all just trying to figure out what happens next."
Xaveria raised an eyebrow, "You're going to have to start making sense before I can answer you. Start again. I gave Osiris some music to listen to... what of it?" Andrea's wide smile showed her excitement, but she rolled her eyes as she plunged into one of the seats in the room. Putting her hands into the air, she explained in basic terms. "Osiris started to listen to the music, or so I was told. That was a few hours ago, I think?" Xaveria looked to the clock in the corner before she nodded her head. "Yes, it was this morning. Then what?"
Andrea pulled her dark hair back and tied it securely. "Well, he started to build something, but he's running out of songs, so I was just wondering if you'd put more on that file list."
Xaveria smiled, "You get way too excited sometimes. I'll put a few more on file in a second if it will get you to stop jumping around the place?"
Andrea grinned, "I know, I don't usually get this worked up about things. I think it was when your uncle said he had no idea what the machine was."
Xaveria's expression changed instantly, "Xavier doesn't know what it is?"
Andrea jumped to her feet and pointed towards the door, "Want to add another Quentin to the confusion list?"
Sighing to herself, Xaveria pulled the glasses from her face and placed them on the table. "This better be good, Andie."
Andrea beamed as they both left the room. Xaveria found herself smiling. "I never see you this happy, the way you act sometimes, makes it difficult to believe you're only a few years older than me."
The bio-mechanic stopped for a moment, and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry we can't all be moody hermit geniuses."
Xaveria was about to answer when Andrea poked her in the ribs. "Get moving, he might be nearly finished. Oh, and there is nothing wrong with being twenty, give yourself three years, you'll know how it feels."

Mentel looked up as he saw the two girls appear through the doorway. "Looks like more of an audience, Xavier." The elder man however was transfixed with the sight before him. "Seriously Mentel, have you any ideas. I'm almost thinking you put him up to this to confuse me."
Osiris' father grinned, "No, I have nothing to do with this one. But from where I'm standing, It looks somewhat like a reactor."
Xavier snapped his fingers and pointed at the other mechanic, "That's it! Why is it in a funnel shape? Wait, why is he making a reactor?"
"House, bring up the schematic's of that construct on table..." Xavier squinted over to where Osiris was working, "...table number twelve, yes, that's the one. Table number twelve please House."
"I'm sorry sir, that schematic is currently unavailable and set to draft mode." Xavier swore an oath as he lowered his elbows to rest on the bench in front of him. "I hate not understanding things. Also, it doesnt help that he realised how to change the privacy settings on the machines when a few hours ago he didnt know how to turn them on."
Mentel smiled, "He'll explain it to us when he's done. He does seem to be slowing down, maybe Andrea was right... maybe he does need music to make this thing." Xavier chuckled. "It wouldnt surprise me if that was true, you know how much we can get into the zone with machines. It's difficult to imagine how his brain works."

Xaveria, not being as subtle as her uncle walked directly over to the table Osiris was working on. She could hear the faint noise of the music he was listening to from the short distance she was standing. "Ugh, he's still listening to rock. A little bit of variation could go a long way." she mumbled almost to herself. "Hmm, House, upload classical music files, volume... sixty-four from my personal memory storage."
Xaveria then walked over to one of the neighbouring work benches and adjusted her earphones that Osiris wore to the new channel with the classical music on it. "Now, let's see if Andrea was right?"
Andrea smiled as she watched Osiris look up in confusion. Everyone looked around themselves politely as though they were busy doing things by themselves. Yet Xaveria just watched Osiris' face, waiting for any type of reaction. The young man smiled as he lowered his hands from the board. The image froze on the spot, awaiting further improvements.

Osiris pulled the ear phones from his ears and grinned at Xaveria, "That was amazing, the new music is so mellow and really relaxing. Could you put that old list back on again please, maybe the thirty second song on the third track change?"
"Sure, just give me a moment." Xaveria looked to the board and paused slightly. She then decided to change the song that he was currently listening to, to the thirty first song on the third track. Smiling to herself, she thought she'd have a little bit of fun catching him out. Osiris frowned momentarily, "Sorry, I must have been wrong, could you put it to the song after this one please?"
Xaveria's eyes widened slightly, but she quickly changed the song to the one that he wanted. But before he could put the earphones back in, she asked him a question that everyone was thinking. "What are you making?"
Osiris looked at the image in front of him, "It looks a bit rough, I know that. I'm not used to drawing my plans on one of these plasma things. Normally I just make them out of parts and find my way from there, I suppose this method is a lot cheaper."
Xaveria raised an eyebrow, "What are you making?"
Osiris paused for a moment before regarding her with a fixed smile, "You'll just have to wait until it's finished, wont you?"
Xaveria crossed her arms, "Any particular reason you're not telling me?"
Osiris smiled, "Any particular reason you intentionally picked the wrong song?"
Xaveria let her arms fall to her sides as she smiled at him, "Dont hurt yourself making that thing, I want your mind fresh for when we're designing our race car."
With that said, the young precison engineer started walking back to her room. A part of her was angry that he had seen through her test, yet there was another part of her that was happy that he was as smart as her uncle praised him to be. His voice however stopped her in her tracks.
"A Turbo Engine."

Xaveria stood there, unsure what to say to him, but he continued anyway. "The exhausts are a long way away before I can think about them. But I'm sure I'll be able to keep them aligned. This plasma machine isn't Tweak, but I'm sure that it wont steer me too far wrong."
Xaveria was at a loss for words, but eventually her voice found her to ask the question. "What's a Tweak?"
Osiris smiled at her, "He was the little robot that I made when I was a kid. Just a house mod, and a few daxons inside a lump of metal to be honest. But he was one of my first friends."
"Was?" Xaveria asked before she thought of the implications.
Osiris' smile faded slightly but his eyes were still the same as he replied, "He was destroyed a few days ago by someone I dont particularly like very much."
Xaveria paused, unsure of what to say and hating herself for it. Normally she was sharper than her uncle, yet in this conversation she found herself stuck for words with every sentence. "I'm sorry to hear that." was all that she said, and she had to forcefully stop herself from rolling her eyes as she said it. "Original, Veria." she mumbled to herself.
Osiris grinned at her, and it was in that moment that she saw his face light up completely. "This thing is going to destroy anything my dad can make, want to see how it works?" Xaveria felt herself wanting to stay and talk to him, but a part of her wouldnt admit to it so she politely declined. "I have a lot of work to be doing for college anyway, Xavier expects results of me."
Xavier snorted and looked at Mentel, "Seriously, I swear I never said that. But she throws it in my face everytime I ask her to do something."
Mentel grinned, "You probably were drunk, I recall you telling me to replace Rogue for once of the races because you thought it would be funny."
Xavier laughed, "It probably would have been fun to watch, for all three seconds before that Turbo engine of yours went into the first corner."
Both men continued to joke back and forth with each other as they returned to their own work. Xaveria started to walk back towards her room, leaving Osiris to look at the 3D image in front of him. He started to raise the earphones to his head when he heard a timid voice come to his left. "I'd like to hear how it works, if that's okay?"
Osiris simply stared at the beautiful woman he had never seen before. "Who... are you?" were the only words that came from his mouth.
Andrea smiled at him, and Osiris was struck by the wide smile and the bright blue eyes that regarded him from underneath her slight fringe. "I'm Andrea, I make the fuels here."
"I'm Osiris, that's my dad." Osiris pointed lamely over to where his father was working, yet his gaze never left Andrea's face. The bio-mechanic giggled as she shyly took a seat opposite, her eyes set on the layout of the machine. "What would you like to know about?" Osiris asked as he looked over the entire schematic. Andrea looked at the schematic in front of her, before she looked up to meet his green eyes, "Being honest, I have a bigger interest in advanced bio-mechanics. So if it's okay, could we talk about Tweak for a while?"
Osiris smiled at her, "He was unbelievable, he could analyse anything in moments."
Andrea smiled back, "And what was his voice like?"

Mentel switched off the schematic screen on his computer and allowed the image to die away, his eyes however were set on the two conversing over at Osiris' workbench. "We hardly got any work done today, I blame your son for all the distractions. Maybe we could give him his own workbench outside?" Xavier said with a slight smile on his face. Mentel however was still looking over to where the woman sat. "What is she like, Xavier? Her demeanor completely changed when she started talking to him."
Xavier glanced over before he waved his hand at Mentel, "Dont worry about it. She may come across as mindless for the first few instances that you meet her, but after a while, her personality really begins to shine. She's much more compassionate than I give her credit for. I told her about Tweak and she almost cried right there on the spot. I think she's just trying to cheer him up about it."
A slight beeping sound distracted the two men, Mentel looked to his wrist, but the lack of beeping showed it to be Xavier's. The elderly man pressed a button on the metal band around his wrist causing a little screen to pop up and display a message. "What does it say?" Mentel asked out of curiosity. Xavier's face darkened momentarily as he read out the words, "It's not a reactor. X.Q."
Mentel began to laugh but Xavier was cursing, "Seriously though, sometimes I wonder why I took her in."
Osiris' father smiled, "Because she's exactly the same as you, without most of your rough edges."
Xavier smiled, "Hopefully she'll be more than that in a few years."
Mentel picked up his coat and grinned, "Who knows what the future will bring?" Xavier followed his gaze to where Andrea and Osiris sat talking, each one seeming more excited than the other. Xavier snorted, "Well the age difference will be nothing in a few years, but you're going to have to teach your boy not to go weak at the knees everytime he sees a pretty face."
Mentel laughed, "He'll have to learn the hard way, we all do."
Xavier grinned, "Too true."

Author's Note

Have fun.